Flaxen
by Steffauri516
Summary: CytoViral oneshot: The subtle love that a certain General has for his new young subordinate never needed words, but rather to be shown in the simplest of ways; a late night meeting between the two leads to an engaging conversation, among other things.


**Flaxen**

_By: Steffauri516_

Okay, so I recently got back into TTGL (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann) after having finished it quite some time ago, and fell back in love with my favorite character, Viral. Of course I want to do several fics exploring his personal connections with the four generals, this one specifically centers on a CytoViral friendship as well as hinted soft yaoi for your enjoyment :)

It had been yet another long day of planning and overseeing gunman repairs in the H.E.A.'s Northern Division-it's flambouyant leader General Cytomander now lay sprawled out in a very uncouth manner atop his generously sized bed.

His large jewel toned eyes gradually moved towards the towering trio of windows to his far left side, the once sun-scortched atmosphere was finally beginning to cool itself as night began to fall. He found the view to be rather pleasant, but detested the way that the intense blare of the setting sun burned into his eyes.

With an almost petulant groan he eased himself only halfway upright in the lavish bed to see his servants bustling about the spacious room, the avian general smirked and placed one hand beneath his pointed chin. He felt like a king in this platformed bed, sitting like a throne mighty and tall above the peasants of his village-the servants cleaning his room. He smirked to himself at the tasteful sight, naturally he was no Spiral King, but these 'disposables' were his to do with whatever he pleased.

"Lua!" He called out to a young lady in a corner, replacing old flowers in one of the many bejeweled accent-vases that lined the area with fresh flora. Her head shot up and she addressed him immidiately. "Yes, my Lord?" The young maid Lua asked curtly, greeting her anointed 'master' with a low curtsy. Gingerly he plucked one of the flowers from the girl's pallid fingers and twisted the little red-orange bulb in his lengthy fingers before crushing it in one swift clench. "Is...is something wrong, my Lord?" She asked, suddenly feeling very intimidated. "I asked for flowers in cool tones ONLY. Imbissile...these are _clearly_ red. Take this garbage out of my sight right now!" He spat fiercely with a taut, sarcastic smirk as he leaned back once more, sinking further into his plush velvet blankets. The young woman shivered and nodded in obedience as she feverishly gathered the first of the vases and its contents old and new.

As she turned to exit, she grumbled some rather vulgar and unladylike things about her Lord the general-on the other side of the guilded double doors stood a very reluctant looking visitor. "AH!" The young maid gasped, nearly dropping the vase as she aknowledged the silent figure's unexpected presence.

"I need...a moment of the general's time..." Viral stated through clenched teeth. The young maid nodded and re-entered the room to annouce the arrival of the young commander. "My Lord, Seventh Commander Viral of the Eastern Division is here to see you...shall I send him in or dismiss him, general?" She asked in a monotone voice, immidiately piquing the bird man's interests; it wasn't often he had visitors, it was even less occasional that he recieved one that was not one of his comerades, the other three generals.

"Viral you say?" He asked inquisitively before nodding in approval. "Send him to me." The maid reappeared outside to greet the young man, with one arm outstretched she held the door open and led him into the dimly lit room. "The general will see you now, sir." Viral entered silently and the woman aknowledged his arrival with a deep bow before shutting the door and returning to her duties elsewhere with her rejected charges in hand.

Cytomander hopped down from his bed and slid a glitzy teal robe of patterned silk over his tall shirtless form to greet his guest. "Viral!" He beamed, gliding towards the boy with his long arms outstretched, Viral cringed at the idea of being embraced and pressed against the older beastman-thankfully he ended with placing an arm around Viral's shoulder, but for him even that minor contact was too much.

"What brings you to my 'humble' chambers, my dear?" He asked, stroking a hand under Viral's chin playfully, needless to say the younger beastman was not amused in the least.

"Ugh...you know why, sir." Viral mused, pointing upward to his head of shaggy flaxen hair, which was obviously unkempt and in need of attention. "Oh but of course!" The fabulous general cooed with delight as he danced his way over to his large over-lit vanity table, pulling out the velvet seat for his guest, patting the seat suggestively with raised brows. Viral groaned under his breath and made his way over to the chair, begrudgingly taking the offered seat. "I can't believe I'm still doing this..." He grumbled to himself.

Cytomander forcefully shoved Viral's seat in closer to the mirror, nearly throwing his lanky body into the towering mirror head first. The older beastman hummed a jovial tune audibly to himself as he let his long slender fingers glide around the marble counter in every which direction to grab every necessary tool for the job.

Viral _would _do this himself, but with such large and cumbersome claws and paw-like hands, handling and maneuvering anything small or easily breakable like combs and brushes became a chore in itself. And naturally, he'd never DREAM of asking such a favor of Adiane in fear of her reaction, Guame had no hair and therefore no knowledge of its care, and Thymilph, though his general and guardian, had hands at _least_ ten times larger (if not more) than his own. Cytomander, though he loathed admitting it, was the best option. Always stylish as well-kept, managing Viral's only moderately lengthy locks would be a cinch.

"Hmm..." Cytomander mused grabbing small tufts of the younger beastman's hair and furrowing them further. Viral figited around in his seat with discomfort. "...This mess is far too dry to work with..." A devilish smile and a comical blush spread across the taller man's face. "...perhaps I should give you a nice bath to make it more workable!" Cytomander chuckled perversely, Viral felt a twinge of embarassment boil up in his cheeks. "No sir, I've already showered, let's just get this over with." Viral mused indignantly as the bird general ran the silky bristles of hiw own gold-plated brush through the young man's blonde tendrils with an almost nostalgic sigh.

"Oh very well. By the way Viral, that was dangerously close to a command...we wouldn't want Adiane to find out would we?" Cytomander joked, Viral gulped beneath him, meeting eye to eye with his timid reflection in the mirror in a stoic silence. "Oh well, there really is no need for her to find out, after all, we can't have one of Thymilph's commanders killed off just yet!" He laughed heartily at his own sadistic idea of humor, Viral only grumbled under his breath and wondered to himself how someone could possibly be so conceited as he. The older of the two sighed again. "Besides, it's too early for you, anyways...just a little flower of 19 summers." The general ran a hand briefly down the side of Viral's smooth cheek, earning another cringe from the young man. The general's poetic tongue always had proved to be more of an annoyance than a conversation starter.

Viral remained still and quiet as he ever was-from the mirror he could see the fixing of his hair was nearing completion, suddenly Cytomander paused halfway through combing out a small knot in the back of Viral's hair, sitting the brush back onto the marble vanity top with a light clanging noise. "That's right...you'll be 20 soon, correct, Viral?" That caught his interest. "Yes sir, on the 18th of April." Viral replied, hoping that this light conversation might help speed up the arduous process.

"You know, for every decade of a beastman's life, the Spiral King grants them one special gift, a 'wish' of sorts..." Cytomander said coaxingly, picking at the last remains of the small knot in the back of Viral's head. The young man turned slightly so as to try and meet his superior's gaze "Sir?" He asked inquisitively. "Well...what will you ask for?" Cytomander asked, his voice teeming with sincere interest. Suddenly Viral had something on his plate that needed a long and devoted thought process. _"What DO I want?"_ Viral asked himself internally as a sudden harsh jerk to his head snapped him out of his thoughts.

"There you are, Viral!" Cytomander exclaimed, raking his long fingers through the silky pale-gold locks, the hairs on Viral's nape twitched and shivered from the sudden, uninvited touch.

"I've been doing this since you were very little, you know?" Cytomander's usually flaunting and boistrous voice suddenly took on a soothing, almost fatherly and longing persona. He smiled, a twinkle of nostalgia and reminisce flecked in his glassy jewel-toned eyes; all presence of sarcasm and perverse joking were for once completely absent from the beastman's impure aura.

The weight of the bird general's hands and long, limber fingers on Viral's gaunt shoulders was soon replaced by a heaviness at the crown of his head; he could feel the general's hot and steady breath piercing his delicate scal, and Cytomander pressed his lips ever so gently to the top of the younger soldier's head. "Take care of yourself, kid." He whispered lowly, but just loud enough for Viral to hear him and share in the moment. Earning a slight jolt and a gasp of surprise from the boy, his superior gradually lifted himself up from his comfortable position so close to his charge; from within the flawless surface of the freshly polished mirror, Cytomander could see the utter shock in the pale boy's face.

They stood together in silence, neither one facing the other for a few fleeting moments.

"You may want to get out of here-Adiane will be arriving to fetch me soon enough, another meeting with the royal court and the other generals is scheduled for this evening...you wouldn't want her to find her snivelling little plaything here away from his duties, now would you?" Cytomander mused coyly, the childish abandon suddenly present again in his tone.

He smiled at Viral, who had finally turned his way, and couldn't help but smile back. "My humblest thank yous, my Lord." Viral stated obediently as he gave a swift and perfectly stately bow to his superior officer, and swept from the room with a turn of his flat-bottomed shoes, and Cytomander prancing back to his carefully niched spot on his 'throne'-as if that meeting had never happened, as if they were nothing more than a general and a commander-comerades, but perfect strangers.

The over-priveleged general without a care in the world, and the spry little beastman with the silk flaxen hair.

-_**THE END**_

AHHHHH! My first fanfic in oh so long T_T college finals absolutely rob me of all my free time :[ anyways, yes! I will be exploring my own thoughts on ViraI's relationships with his superiors and such, I hope you all enjoyed it, there will be more Viral-centered fanfics to come now that stupid finals are almost over (YAY.) So, yea! Tell me what you thought :)


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